Missionaries of Charity photos

Bishop Lee Piche and Father Thomas McCabe concelebrate Mass for the Missionaries of Charity in the sisters' chapel in San Felix, Venezuela.

Missionaries of Charity, from several continents, sing at Mass in their chapel in San Felix, Venezuela.

About Bob Zyskowski

Bob is the Client Products Manager for the Communications Office of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. A 42-year veteran of the Catholic Press, he is the former Associate Publisher of The Catholic Spirit. You can follow him on twitter or email him at zyskowskir@archspm.org.

During my conversion I learned that to have fulfilled one’s obligation for a mass attendance (as we are required to do on all Sundays as well as other Holy Days of obligation (as denoted by the national bishop’s conference) one had to be present by the time of the Opening prayer before the readings begin, and must stay until the end of the Closing Prayer just before the dismissal. It was my understanding that if one was not present for that duration of the mass then the obligation was not fulfilled which does count as a sin.

Faithandreasonsblog

May I ask what was the source of the information you received? Different priests have given me different answers, which led me to want to write this post. When mortal sin is involved (whether or not one has fulfilled the obligation), I feel that the Church would tell us clearly if there were specific points in the Mass that we had to be present for. Since several liturgy experts and an apologist confirmed that there is no mention of this in canon law nor other guidelines, I am trusting their word. If anyone has other information and the source, I will revisit this.